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Limits in the Seas No. 145 Republic of the Marshall Islands United States Department of State Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs Limits in the Seas No. 145 Republic of the Marshall Islands: Archipelagic and other Maritime Claims and Boundaries LIMITS IN THE SEAS No. 145 REPUBLIC OF THE MARSHALL ISLANDS: ARCHIPELAGIC AND OTHER MARITIME CLAIMS AND BOUNDARIES February 14, 2020 Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs U.S. Department of State This study is one of a series issued by the Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs in the Department of State. The purpose of the series is to examine a coastal State’s maritime claims and/or boundaries and assess their consistency with international law. This study represents the views of the United States Government only on the specific matters discussed therein and does not necessarily reflect an acceptance of the limits claimed. This study, and earlier studies in this series, may be downloaded from https://www.state.gov/limits-in-the-seas/. Comments and questions should be emailed to [email protected]. Principal analysts for this study are from the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs and the Office of the Legal Advisor. Introduction This study analyzes the maritime claims and maritime boundaries of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (Marshall Islands), including its archipelagic baseline claim. The Republic of the Marshall Islands Maritime Zones Declaration Act 2016 (Annex 1 to this study) established a 12-nautical mile (M) territorial sea, a 24-M contiguous zone, and a 200-M exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as well as provisions pertaining to the continental shelf.1 The 2016 Act repealed and replaced the Marine Zones (Declaration) Act 1984. It also provided for normal and archipelagic baselines, the coordinates for which were set forth in the Declaration of Baselines & Maritime Zones Outer Limits of 2016 (Annex 2 to this study).2 The archipelagic baselines around the Ratak and Ralik Chains (also known as Sunrise and Sunset, respectively) are depicted in Map 1 to this study. The Marshall Islands’ maritime limits and boundaries are illustrated in Map 2. The Marshall Islands ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOS Convention) on August 9, 1991.3 Basis for Analysis Archipelagic States The LOS Convention contains certain provisions related to archipelagic States. Article 46(a) provides that an “archipelagic State” means “a State constituted wholly by one or more archipelagos and may include other islands.” An “archipelago” is defined as “a group of islands, including parts of islands, interconnecting waters and other natural features which are so closely interrelated that such islands, waters and other natural features form an intrinsic geographical, economic and political entity, or which historically have been regarded as such” (Article 46(b)). Only an “archipelagic State” may draw archipelagic baselines. Article 47 sets out criteria to which an archipelagic State must adhere when establishing its archipelagic baselines (Annex 5 to this study). Under Article 47(1), an archipelagic State may draw straight archipelagic baselines joining the outermost points of the outermost islands and drying reefs of the archipelago provided that within such baselines are included the main islands and an area in which the ratio of the area of the water to the area of the land, including atolls, is between 1 to 1 and 9 to 1. Additionally, the length of any baseline segment shall not exceed 100 M, except that up to 3 percent of the total number of baselines may have a length up to 125 M (Article 47(2)). Additional provisions of Article 47 state that such baselines shall not depart to any appreciable extent from the general configuration of the archipelago; that such baselines shall not be drawn, with noted exceptions, using low-tide elevations; and that the system of such baselines shall not 1Republic of the Marshall Islands Maritime Zones Declaration Act 2016 is available from the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS) at: http://www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/PDFFILES/DEPOSIT/mhl_mzn120_2016_1.pdf. 2Declaration of Baselines & Maritime Zones Outer Limits (2016) is available from DOALOS at: http://www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/PDFFILES/DEPOSIT/mhl_mzn120_2016_2.pdf. 3United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Montego Bay, opened for signature Dec. 10, 1982, entered into force Nov. 10, 1994, 1833 UNTS 397, available from DOALOS, at: http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/closindx.htm. 1 be applied in such a manner as to cut off from the high seas or exclusive economic zone (EEZ) the territorial sea of another State (Article 47(3) - 47(5)). Article 48 provides that the breadth of the territorial sea, contiguous zone, EEZ and continental shelf shall be measured from archipelagic baselines drawn in accordance with Article 47. Article 49 provides that the waters enclosed by archipelagic baselines drawn in accordance with Article 47 are “archipelagic waters,” over which the sovereignty of an archipelagic State extends, subject to the provisions in Part IV of the LOS Convention. The LOS Convention further reflects the specific rights and duties given to archipelagic States over their land and water territory. Article 53 allows the archipelagic State to “designate sea lanes . suitable for the continuous and expeditious passage of foreign ships . through . its archipelagic waters and the adjacent territorial sea.” Article 53 also provides that “[i]f an archipelagic State does not designate sea lanes . ., the right of archipelagic sea lanes passage may be exercised through the routes normally used for international navigation.” Normal Baseline / Reefs Article 5 of the LOS Convention provides that the normal baseline “is the low-water line along the coast as marked on large-scale charts officially recognized by the coastal State.” Article 6 of the Convention pertains to cases of “islands situated on atolls or of islands having fringing reefs” and provides that, in such cases, “the baseline for measuring the breadth of the territorial sea is the seaward low-water line of the reef, as shown by the appropriate symbol on charts officially recognized by the coastal State.” Since most atolls possess one or more channels through the reefs, it appears that coastal States are permitted to draw closing lines across such channels or other openings in the reef.4 Analysis The Marshall Islands is an archipelagic State located in the Pacific Ocean, situated approximately equidistant between Hawaii and Australia. The Marshall Islands are two groups of islands (Ralik and Ratak Chains), which contain 29 atolls that comprise many small islands, as well as five additional atolls located in the North Pacific Ocean. The Marshall Islands’ largest population centers are in the capital city of Majuro (on Majuro Atoll) and Ebeye (on Kwajalein Atoll). Wake Island is a small atoll located north of the Marshall Islands and west of Hawaii, and is a territory of the United States; however, it is claimed by the Marshall Islands (as Enenkio5). Baselines Section 107 of the Maritime Zones Declaration Act 2016 provides for the use of archipelagic baselines, as well as the normal baseline and reef closing lines. The Declaration of Baselines & 4 DOALOS, Baselines: An Examination of the Relevant Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, at 10–12 (1989) (noting that “it may be inferred [from Article 6] that the enclosed waters [within a lagoon] can be regarded as internal waters” and that “[i]f the lagoon waters of atolls are to be considered as internal waters, it follows that it will be necessary to construct closing lines across the entrance channels.”) 5 Names in parentheses are not necessarily recognized by the United States government. 2 Maritime Zones Outer Limits of 2016 sets forth the coordinates of the Marshall Islands’ archipelagic baselines. The Declaration also sets forth coordinates for (1) normal baseline points that contribute to the outer limits of the Marshall Islands’ maritime zones and (2) coordinates for the closing lines drawn across breaks in reefs or entrances to lagoons. Archipelagic Baselines The Declaration of Baselines & Maritime Zones Outer Limits of 2016 establishes archipelagic baselines around two separate groups of atolls: the Ralik and Ratak Chains. The archipelagic baseline systems around the Ralik and Ratak archipelagoes are a combination of the normal baseline and straight archipelagic baseline segments. The two archipelagic baseline systems include 58 baseline segments, ranging in length from 0.07 M (Ratak segment 49-50) to 107.61 M (Ralik segment 179-180), with a total length of 2,064 M. To be consistent with the LOS Convention, each archipelagic baseline system must encompass an “archipelago,” as defined in Article 46 of the LOS Convention, and each must satisfy the criteria set forth in Article 47(5).6 The archipelagic baseline system of the Ralik Chain meets the 9:1 water-to-land area ratio set forth in Article 47(1), while the archipelagic baseline system for the Ratak Chain exceeds this ratio: Ralik Chain Total Area = 68,558 square kilometers Water Area = 61,384 square kilometers Land Area = 7,174 square kilometers7 Water-to-land area ratio = 8.54:1 Ratak Chain Total Area = 52,192 square kilometers Water Area = 47,247 square kilometers Land Area = 4,939 square kilometers8 Water-to-land area ratio = 9.56:1 In accordance with Article 47(2), one archipelagic baseline segment of the Ralik Chain exceeds 100 M in length (Ralik segment 179-180, 107.61 M), comprising 2.9 percent of the total number of segments (35) that enclose the Ralik Chain archipelago. None of the archipelagic baseline segments (23) of the Ratak Chain archipelago exceed 100 M in length, and none of the segments of either archipelagic baseline system are longer than 125 M.
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